Night Terrors
by BowieSensei21
Summary: This is a story about what would happen to the storyline if Itachi got a view into one of Sasuke's darkest moments. It will follow somewhat of the canon storyline then eventually delve into AU. First story on this site.
1. Nightmare

Dreams are mystical things. Many things can happen within them that is beyond our comprehension. Many times people forget them, or they remember them because of something that strikes with them emotionally. Or, there is those times when the dreams can turn into all the doubts you've had over the years compiled into one big darkness.

This dream is called a nightmare. And Itachi is having a major one right now.

At first it was a pleasant dream of the times with Sasuke. Teaching him how to throw shuriken or shoot a bow accurately, like he had on most nights. This one, however, turned ghastly.

"Big brother, can you show me one more time how to throw the shuriken right?" Sasuke asked, giving off big puppy-dog eyes.

The older brother laughed. He motioned the kid forward by waving his hand. The second Uchiha heir ran forward with a grin. Itachi smiled and poked him in the middle of the forehead with his index and middle fingers.

"Maybe next time."

 _Wait. He never said that in his dreams to Sasuke. What was-_

A ripple occured as the vision faded away, replacing it with a bridge and river below the bridge. Rocks were tossed around on the bridge and a massive tree sprung up from the side of it. Sasuke stood in the middle, near two girls. One with red hair looked injured, judging by the blood dribbling down the side of her mouth. The other one had pink hair, and a white cloak. Sasuke, however, was the one who caught his eye the most.

He was wearing a grey v-neck shirt with a multitude of rips and tears with it. There was dark blue pants to go with it and a summon seal wrapped around his left wrist and a black armband around the right one. What struck Itachi most were two things about him. His left eye and his belt. Sasuke's left eye had blood running down it, like he had used the Mangekyo. The belt scared him because it was the same one Orochimaru used. _His little brother couldn't have run off with Orochimaru, could he? When would that have even happened? Maybe, he used him as a vessel? That would explain the similar outfit. No, Sasuke would never go off with that snake right?_

Sasuke mouthed something incoherent to the girl in pink hair. She drew out a kunai. _Wait, isn't she on Sasuke's team? It was Sapuko right? Or, maybe Sakuro? Aha! Sakura, that's it! So, maybe he didn't leave Konoha then, if he was still with his team?_

Sakura walked forward towards the injured girl. She stopped in between the two people. _Was she hesitating?_ Sakura's hair started to sway as Sasuke's left arm flashed with lighting chakra. Her eyes widened in surprise. His arm came up with amazing speed as he tried to jab it into her heart as Kakashi Hatake came into play.

Kakashi grabbed his arm and turned the last Uchiha around. Sasuke tried sweeping the jonin's leg, but he jumped and kicked him away. Kakashi sent ninja wire out, wrapping around Sasuke. A puff of smoke later a log ended up being subdued by the wire. Sasuke was a few yards away, safe from anymore attempts to subdue him with more wire.

"Hn. One after another." the Uchiha smirked.

"Sasuke, I've told you this before and I don't like to repeat myself. I'll say this once more. You've got to forget about revenge." Kakashi said, his eye focused, replacing any form of sleepiness it usually has.

 _So this whole future is all because of me? He went too far with his revenge on me? I wanted him to be a hero of Konoha, not a traitor to fufill my sick thoughts of any form of redemption._

Sasuke continued though. He laughed, going from a chuckle to a full out bursting at the sides. His laugh rang throughout the canyon, while Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Sakura's mouth opened in surprise.

"Itachi, my father, my mother, my entire clan. Bring them all here to me and I'll quit right now!" Sasuke roared in rebuttle.

 _What?! Sasuke was asking for him back? How..why? Nobody else knows the truth except the Konoha leadership, and they would never tell. They clutch their secrets like it would be the end of world if they didn't. Then who else knows? Wait. Madara. He must've told Sasuke... but when? I've been keeping an eye on him and Konoha affairs... it must be after I've been vanquished._

"Sasuke, I don't want to kill you."

"Do you really think you can kill me at any moment you wish? Stop acting like you're still my sensei. Go ahead and try something if you'd like, I've been just itching to kill you, Kakashi." Sasuke said as he tilted his head with a malicious grin.

 _Sasuke is really a traitor? Sasuke's a traitor. And its your own fault._ _ **Your. Own. Fault.**_ _All that preparation you had wasn't enough to save him. Your little brother threw his life away because you were to much of a coward to finish yourself off._ _ **You screwed up Itachi Uchiha.**_

* * *

Itachi woke up as his upper body jumped forward out of his cot.

He was sweating profusely and panting. Was that nightmare a glimpse into the future?

Kisame glanced over at his partner. He made a grin with his mouth that would have been scary to almost anybody else. To Itachi, as maddening as it seemed, was calming.

"Nightmares? I imagine killing your entire clan does that to you from time to time. Honestly, you should've expected it."

"Kisame. I forget, where are we?" Itachi asked, trying to compose himself.

"In the Land of Fire, between Ame and Konoha." the human-shark replied.

"May I ask for a personal favor? I would like to go to Konoha to check on my brother. We aren't on assignment. Of course, you don't have to come." Itachi asked as he watched the fire.

Kisame grinned and nodded. Itachi drew a small smile onto his face.

"I'll take over the watch. Get some rest Kisame. I won't the rest of the night, might as well put it to use."

The next morning came quick for the kin-killing duo. They packed up their camp with haste to leave for Konoha as fast as possible before they were assigned a new mission by Leader. The whole time while packing, Kisame kept glancing towards Itachi nervously. Itachi noticed this and decided to confront the problem before it spiralled out of proportion.

"Yes, Kisame?"

The fish-man jumped at being called out. He looked at Itachi sideways. Kisame gulped then decided to speak up.

"Last night, when you awoke you had your Mangekyo showing. I decided not to say anything but it scared me. You looked ready to kill someone. I was unfortunate to be right there. Ha ha ha." Kisame laughed nervously.

Itachi sighed. He would have to word this carefully to keep his persona up. Last night he slipped up in telling his partner he wanted to check on Sasuke.

"I dreamt that Sasuke actually grew strong enough to kill me. It won't happen while he is with those weaklings in Konoha, but I would like him strong enough to provide a challenge for me. Finding a balance like that is hard to do, Kisame. I just want to reassure him what he is doing is worth it."

The Kiri-nin nodded. They worked in silence after that. After they were all packed, they hit the road. They would arrive in Konohagakure by midday tomorrow.

* * *

Orochimaru laughed the hardest he had in years. Sasuke was turning out to be an interesting subject. The snake sannin had thought that he wouldn't had any connections in Konoha since he had vowed himself to revenge, but boy was he wrong. He just caught Kakashi defending the boy. Hahahaha!

Orochimaru wiped a tear from his eye. It will feel like much more of an accomplishment when he ripped those bonds right from under there noses. The total anihilation of Konoha was a total plus, but not essential.

Suddenly, an Oto spy jumped down in front of the pale man. His name was Kabuto Yakushi.

Orochimaru chuckled. Yes, things were going to be fun.

Konoha Crush indeed.

* * *

Itachi and Kisame strolled past the Konoha gate guards. The Uchiha put them into a genjutsu induced sleep. They wouldn't remember anything during the sleep other than that they were on duty and nothing noticeable happened.

"Let's find a tea shop. After that, I don't care what we do for the rest of the day, Kisame. I will check on my foolish little brother tomorrow." Itachi said nonchalantly.

"In that case, I heard of this great ramen shop in Konoha. I'm sure you've heard of it? It's called Ichiraku Ramen." Kisame grinned.

"Yes I have. Its been around for quite some time, since at least I was young."

The Akatsuki pair walked until they found a tea shop. Itachi ordered some tea to go, as a favor to Kisame. It tasted bland, almost like hot water. Well, looks as though that tea shop was a bust. They left the building.

The duo walked through the streets, suppressing their chakra to make it look like they were mercenaries or bandits just walking through the streets. THey came to the ramen shop and sat down. Kisame ordered shrimp ramen while Itachi just ordered a rice bowl. They were quietly and politefully eating.

"Hey old man. Can I have some pork ramen please." a blonde boy said loudly. Itachi's eyes snapped towards the boy. He was on Sasuke's team too right? The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki right? Smart pick, Lord Third, using both Kakashi's sharingan and Sasuke's eventual sharingan to keep the fox demon at bay.

Itachi cleared his throat, "Cook, I would like to pay for this boy's ramen."

Naruto looked at the man, surprised. He was in awe of someone just doing this random act of kindness. The blonde broke out into a big toothy grin.

"Thanks mister! My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna be Hokage one day! What's your name?" Naruto asked.

Itachi and Kisame shared a glance. _Should they share their real names? They would eventually hunt this boy down, after all. Well I guess it wouldn't hurt. It might raise alarms in the heads of Konoha leadership, mainly Danzo._

"My name is Itachi, and this is my partner, Kisame."

The cook tensed at the names. Naruto however didn't look fazed as he gulped down his second ramen happily.

"Are you Itachi Uchiha?" Teuchi asked.

Itachi sipped his tea quietly as he shook his head no.

"My mother was inspired by him before he... you know, went crazy." Itachi said quietly.

Teuchi nodded his head, but kept his face firm as he went back to cooking.

Naruto turned to the Akatsuki team and asked, "Itachi Uchiha? Sasuke's brother? What was he like?"

Itachi hummed, thinking about how to answer that.

Finally, he decided to speak up, "I don't really know how to answer that but from what I've heard that until the Uchiha Massacre he was a pure genius, everyone wanted to be like him."

Naruto's eyebrows raised. He looked down into his bowl with an intense glare.

"So that's why Sasuke wants to surpass him, huh?" Naruto's fists tightened into fists.

Itachi's eyes widened a bit at that statement. _Sasuke did want to get strong, but he wanted to surpass Itachi's own legacy?_

"Hey, thanks Itachi! You two Kisame, even though I guess we didn't talk like at all. Hehe," Naruto said sheepishly while rubbing his neck.

"Goodbye, Naruto. I have a feeling we will see each other in the future." Itachi said.

"See ya! I'm off to train with Pervy Sage!" Naruto said as he ran off.

"Jiraiya the Toad Sage?" Kisame asked, raising his eyebrows. They walked out together, careful to keep low voices.

Itachi shrugged. Last he heard, the sage was out looking for information on the Akatsuki.

Kisame shrugged as well, "I suppose you could go toe to toe with him if you needed, with your Mangekyo of course."

"Hn." Itachi grunted.

* * *

Naruto got halfway across the river when he fell in again.

"Ergahhhhh! This is soooo stupid!" the Jinchuuriki cried in frustration.

"Naruto. You're never gonna get it if you don't concentrate. Focus your chakra yadda yadda yadda." Jiraiya said waving his hand dismissively as he went back to watching his ladies.

"Ugh. Sorry Pervy Sage, I met this guy named Itachi earlier and-" Naruto was cut off.

"Itachi? What did he look like?" Jiraiya now had his full attention.

"Oh, uh, um, he had like brown hair, a cloak that had these red clouds, he even had his partner Kisame with him. I think they're together, y'know, romantically. Hehe."

The Toad Sage rubbed his chin _. Itachi Uchiha and his Akatsuki partner, Kisame, are in Konoha? This is big news indeed. Especially added with the rumors of Orochimaru in the village too. This could be a big power play by Akatsuki. Last he heard Orochimaru was still apart of the criminal originazation._

"Uh, Naruto. You keep working on this. I'll come by again in time, ok? I have important things to do." Jiraiya said as he got up. "I've got to do some research on this Itachi and Kisame fellow.

* * *

SO thats done. Whew. Constructive criticism is very welcome. It might not be exactly clear on who is thinking and such, but I made this chapter thing during a 12 hour car trip to California. I still got a bit of a way, but hey I decided I'd get his out when we stopped a hotel. The idea came to me during the trip. What would Itachi do if he saw Sasuke at his (in my opinion anyway) darkest moment. This is what I think would happen. Also, this is gonna be a hobby. I'll proofread it once or twice over but other than that I'm not gonna get anything big like a beta. If you got some story ideas for this message me and I might incorporate them. I still only have the general idea in where this is going. I just hope I keep this story going as this is actually the first time I've written as much. Also, this story will mostly be from Itachi's view with little views sprinkled in to add some flavor to the story. So please enjoy and review!

(The italics are showing the thoughts they are having. its pretty sucky of me to have this at the end.)


	2. Infiltration Gone Wrong

Itachi walked silently through the village he called his home. He enjoyed to walk while he thought about things. The village's layout he memorized years ago, so it was like second nature to him. Normally he would have his sharingan active at all times, but it would give him away here easily. Itachi's mind wandered off at that, deep in thought.

 _What would happen that would cause Sasuke to leave like that? If Itachi drove him to that sort of future, how could he change that? Maybe if he told him the truth... no he couldn't do that. Sasuke wouldn't believe him anyway. Hmm. Well he'll think of something when he confronts him tomorrow._

The Uchiha genius decided to sit down at a different tea shop. The one yesterday was alright, he preferred something a bit more flavourable than hot water. That was when he noticed a commotion coming from a shop next to the tea shop. Three men, dressed in identical outfits, were harrassing the owner. Itachi got up and walked over to them.

"Old man, cough over some of that chocolate sticks too, in addition to the rice balls. It IS after all Morizuha's birthday, right boys." the middle one laughed.

"Yeah, my birthday is pretty important to me hehe." the one on the left that is named Morizuha confirmed.

"Of course, give them up for free, ok?" the right one said in a deep voice.

The old shop owner looked pretty scared at this point. He was fiddling with his torn robe when Itachi walked over to the situation. The bandits didn't notice, but the owner noticed him.

"Get outta here you backwater hooligans." the owner said with a regained confidence.

The bandits looked surprised. The middle one pulled a kunai with a smile. Morizuha crossed his arms with a smirk as he locked eyes with the deep voiced one. Itachi noticed the Rebihaza family crest on the bandits' blue robes.

The Rebihaza family was a crime syndacite based out of the Iwa to disrupt the trade of other ninja villages. Iwa claimes to not have anything to do with it, but the increasing stock of new ninja weapons showed otherwise.

Itachi spoke up, "I'd like it if you quit bothering this man. I don't enjoy resorting to violence when it isn't needed."

"Ebiza almost passed the jonin exams when he was a ninja in Iwa. I'm sure he could take a chump like you." the deep voiced one retorted.

Itachi smirked at that comment. Well, if they wanted a fight he'd give them one. "Fine, if you want a fight I'll give it to you, just remember that I warned you."

"Kyato you open up and distract him. I'll get him then." Ebizu commanded, taking out three shuriken.

Kyato ran forward with a fist raised to smash the Uchiha's face in. Itachi sidestepped, grabbed his fist, and twisted it behind the man's back. The big guy grunted in pain. Ebizu threw his shuriken at Itachi's back and ran forward with a kunai in hand. Itachi twisted the big man right arm more and quickly pushed him in front of the ninja stars. Kyato collapsed with a kick to the back of the knees.

Morihuza charged the Akatsuki member with a tanto. Itachi had two armed foes running at him with a kunai on his left and a tanto on his right. Ebizu lunged forward with the kunai. Itachi countered with another sidestep, grabbing and breaking his kunai hand's wrist. The Iwa chunin doubled over in pain as his friend slashed the crow summoner.

Itachi turned into a bunch of crows. The birthday man looked around, cautious, almost fearful. A roundhouse kick to the temple connected as it knocked him out. Itachi looked over the little mess he made. A fat man with three shuriken embedded into his stomach, another with a broken wrist, and an unconcious birthday boy.

"Thank you, kind sir!" the old man called out to the brunette as he walked away. Itachi nodded.

* * *

Jiraiya watched the whole fight unfold from a nearby rooftop. He couldn't tell if it was cause Itachi wanted to be helpful, or he needed to fight something. Luckily, he didn't kill these poor men.

 _So this really confirms that Itachi Uchiha came back, huh? Or maybe it was really just a coincidence. I mean, this man didn't have the Akatsuki attire on. Just some black clothes on, not even a headband. Although, if I were a criminal in a village that almost all shinobi recognized, I wouldn't wear things to show that either. I hope my clone has a better chance finding out if that is really Kisame Hoshigaki._

* * *

Sasuke was walking through the village. He was trying to find Kakashi to train him. He didn't know what the training was about, but hey, it was from one of the strongest ninja in the village. His mind wandered a bit to remember why he wanted to get strong fast. Oh, yes, to avenge his entire clan. Then after to rebuild it. That was his dream. To have a thriving Uchiha clan again.

The last Uchiha's thoughts kept him occupied so much that he didn't notice himself walking past a certain knuckleheaded ninja falling into the water. Nor did he notice the fish man as he walked past Ichiraku ramen. The only time he broke his deep thoughts were for one thing. The thing that broke his mind down to a numbness everytime he thought back to that wretched night.

Itachi Uchiha.

Sasuke's eyes flashed red as looked upon the scene before him. A man that looked almost exactly like his brother was harming these lowlifes. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in hard concentration.

 _Is that Itachi? Only one way to find out._

Sasuke wove through signs quickly. He put his fingers to his mouth as chakra swelled up in them. The Uchiha blew it as it quickly exploded into a ball of flame.

"Fire style: fireball jutsu!"

Fire swept up the entire street.

* * *

Itachi barely had time to weave through hand signs to produce another fireball. He shot it out and it collided with the other one. Shuriken shot out of the flames. The crow summoner whipped out a kunai and deflected them all.

 _Sasuke must have seen me. These are all classic Uchiha strategies. Curses. I face him, not yet. That vision or dream shook me._

Itachi jumped onto the nearest roof. The Akatsuki member ran in the other direction. Sasuke followed him, like a caged animal finally let out. Suddenly a blur of green collided with his face. Itachi burst through a wall, scaring the inhabitants.

Itachi rubbed his cheek where the foot kicked him. He looked up at the roof he was on. It was none other than Konoha's Blue Beast.

Might Guy.

* * *

The jumpsuit-clad man turned to face Itachi's brother, giving him a grin and a thumbs-up. He then turned and faced his opponent. Itachi activated his sharingan. He then locked eyes with his opponent.

Time to see if he was still up to par on taijutsu.

Might Guy wasn't the smartest ninja, but he had his determination and youth. He was a master at dedication, and facing his rival in the competitions they had has given him a great chance against Konoha's second most infamous criminal.

Guy charged toward the edge of the roof. Once he reached it, he jumped off into a dynamic kick. Itachi's sharingan spun quickly. He caught Guy's foot, and tried to spin his body into the wall next to him. Guy's other foot came up to try and assault his face again. Itachi ducked and brought a fist up to Guy's stomach. It knocked the breath out of the Konoha-nin, but he used that contact to his advantage. Guy grabbed the Uchiha's hand and used it for momentum as he kicked his foot out of his hand. The Blue Beast then spun with that leg using that earlier momentum to spin around.

Itachi blocked the kick with his left forearm. He then pushed the taijutsu master out of the little hole. Guy fell onto the street below. Itachi locked eyes with his little brother. He noticed the sharingan active. Two tomoe in each of his eyes.

Sasuke jumped across, a kunai in hand. Itachi closed his eyes and shook his head. _Didn't he ever learn? Did his hate not give him enough strength? Wait, foolish me, I came here to stop the hate. Stop the... future from happening._

Sasuke flew through the air, grabbing shuriken in his other hand. Itachi took out a kunai and threw it, getting each one in the process. Sasuke's look of anger and bloodlust deepened into a frown. Itachi grabbed the young Uchiha by his hands. Sasuke tore out, trying to kick him with his left leg. The crow summoner's thigh put a stop to that sort of thought.

"Itachi. I have let my hate grow, I am much stronger than before!" Sasuke exclaimed, a crazy grin forming on his face.

 _To stop that alternate future from happening, I might have to use that. It will work, I'm sure of it._

Itachi kicked the black-haired Uchiha onto the other roof. He jumped onto the roof, then formed signs for the summoning jutsu. The traitor then bit his thumb and slammed his hand down on the ground. A crow with one mangekyo sharingan appeared. He sent it towards Sasuke with one command.

Defend Konoha.

* * *

Jiraiya evacuated civilians out of harm's way. Sasuke and Itachi's fireball battle left thirteen people injured with major degree burns. Another twenty-seven had minor burns. He couldn't exactly blame Itachi, as Sasuke started the fight by launching one at him. He is in the village though, so that's Itachi's own fault.

He ran back in time to watch Sasuke get flung back to the roof. A crow flew up to him. Jiraiya decided it was his turn to fight the Uchiha. He started dashing towards the roof where Itachi was. The toad sage started to form a rasengan in his hand, jumping up into the sky. The ball spun in a mesermic rhythm as he flew threw the air. He glanced at his opponent. Itachi's eyes spun sporadically. Suddenly, the tomoe switched into a more solid shape.

"Tsukyomi."

Jiraiya's world was replaced with a solid darkness. An outline of a figure filled his attention. Its eyes opened to reveal blood red.

"Why have you all attacked me? I came here on a mission. I have to save Sasuke." Itachi said, his sharingan spinning idly.

Jiraiya smirked at this. "You really think Konoha will believe you after what you did, you traitor?"

The genjutsu master chuckled at this remark. Suddenly the world was starting to fill with light because crows started to fly everywhere. The scene after was pitch white, with the Toad Sage locked in a cross.

"This genjutsu is something extraoridnary. I control everything for seventy-two hours. Or three days, if you want to be simple about it. It will damage you physically, as in I can put you into a genjutsu-induced coma. Few people could cure it, and by that I mean only legendary medical ninja. You were doomed from the moment we locked eyes." Itachi explained.

"If that's so, then my allies outside will just kill you. Quite the risky move to be in here for three days, but I think I can manage." Jiraiya boasted.

"You didn't let me finish. It only lasts a second in the outside world. Though, it takes a lot of chakra to use, so I suppose its quite risky." Itachi smirked as the white-haired man paled.

Jiraiya gulped. _How hadn't he known about this power before? Itachi definitely didn't have this power when he was in Konoha._

"Anyway, I did this to explain why I came back. I had a vision... or maybe it was a just a nightmare and I'm overreacting," Itachi said, unsure of himself, "but I thought Sasuke wouldn't turn out like I wanted after my death. I want him to be a hero, and what I saw horrified me. He was a power hungry monster, using me as a scapegoat to attack people of Konoha. Like Kakashi Hatake, his teacher. I implanted him with the strongest genjutsu in existance. The Kotoamatsukami. Shisui Uchiha's mangekyo ability. He gave me his eye when Danzou stole his other."

Jiraiya stared at the young man in disbelief. Danzou Shimura stole Shisui of the Body Flicker's eye?

"Not only that, but I was acting on orders. I wanted to look like a bad guy to give Sasuke reasons for being strong and to stay with his friends. I wanted him to look like a hero when he killed me. Instead, in my dream, he ended up a traitor." Itachi said as he looked down, his auburn hair falling down.

Jiraiya suddenly felt a sharp pain jab into his back. He looked behind him with the limited vision he had. Itachi was stabbing him in the back with a katana.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot have you messing up my plan. You wasted enough of my chakra as is. Jiraiya of the Sannin, forgive me once you awaken."

The world was swept up with cawing and claws.

* * *

 **A/N**

Whew! That was good. I sort of think I'm rushing things a bit, but I have big things planned. As always relax and review. I will be posting a new chapter hopefully every week.


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